The Mercantile Investment Trust (MRC) Competitors

Plus500 (LON:PLUS) and The Mercantile Investment Trust (LON:MRC) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and valuation.

Do analysts recommend PLUS or MRC?

Plus500 currently has a consensus price target of GBX 3,304.67, indicating a potential upside of 4.25%. Given Plus500's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Plus500 is more favorable than The Mercantile Investment Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plus500	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
The Mercantile Investment Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has higher earnings & valuation, PLUS or MRC?

The Mercantile Investment Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Plus500. The Mercantile Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Plus500, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plus500	£728M	3.05	£312.07M	£3.60	880.56
The Mercantile Investment Trust	£244.11M	7.34	£393.55M	£0.31	806.71

Which has more risk & volatility, PLUS or MRC?

Plus500 has a beta of 0.2, suggesting that its share price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Mercantile Investment Trust has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to PLUS or MRC?

In the previous week, Plus500 had 1 more articles in the media than The Mercantile Investment Trust. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Plus500 and 0 mentions for The Mercantile Investment Trust. Plus500's average media sentiment score of 0.67 beat The Mercantile Investment Trust's score of 0.00 indicating that Plus500 is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Plus500	Positive
The Mercantile Investment Trust	Neutral

Is PLUS or MRC more profitable?

The Mercantile Investment Trust has a net margin of 94.67% compared to Plus500's net margin of 36.45%. Plus500's return on equity of 39.06% beat The Mercantile Investment Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plus500	36.45%	39.06%	26.75%
The Mercantile Investment Trust	94.67%	20.56%	2.53%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in PLUS or MRC?

50.1% of Plus500 shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.0% of The Mercantile Investment Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 49.7% of Plus500 shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of The Mercantile Investment Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is PLUS or MRC a better dividend stock?

Plus500 pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.87 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. The Mercantile Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Plus500 pays out 24.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Mercantile Investment Trust pays out 24.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

Plus500 beats The Mercantile Investment Trust on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.